Page 18 of Wicked Proposal

I’m met at the door and led to an office. Time to put my game face on. I push Emily from my thoughts for the time being and get down to business, pulling out new contracts and paperwork to sign. Mitch was ruthless. He liked to be the one that said, ‘I took that company down’, I used to be the same. Mitch wasn’t a well-liked man but in business, it’s not about being liked it’s about getting results and he definitely got those.

The door closes behind me and we get to work.

Once my meeting was over,I’m out of there like a shot. I quickly arrive home and drop my briefcase in the office, fuck it, I’ll get back to it later. I know she’s here, I smelt her scent. It had been lingering in my senses all day since I'd been near her in the gallery. Although, I’m not sure where she is. I check the master bedroom but it’s empty, not even her belongings are in there. Next, I check her childhood bedroom; nothing. I look down the hallway and see her cases in the doorway. I make my way down and stand at the side of the door and watch her. She spins around taking everything in. I’ve set the room up just the way she’d left it. If Mitch could see this now, he'd probably be turning in his grave right now, but I know he loved her, he just didn’t know how to say the words. I know Emily well enough to know that she needs to hear those words. But as hard as Mitch Lancaster was, Emily was still his weakness. Which is why I never told him about me and her. If he’d known I’d used her the way I did, my life wouldn’t have been worth living. I’d have had nothing. He would’ve taken it away as quick as he had given it to me.

I slip away to give her some privacy, going downstairs and open my mini bar in the living room, pouring a measured double into my short tumbler. As I sip on my Courvoisier brandy, I pace the floor, inviting the burn as it slips down my throat. I’m not sure how I can make her see I want her, it’s nothing to do with anything that Mitch left. If only she knew what I did, she’d hate me even more than she does now. I need to make her see this is all because I want to share my life with her. It may have started out all those years ago as a challenge, and to get Mitch’s money and the estate, but now, she is the only thing that’s missing from my life. I’m not even sure how this is going to work. As ever, I’ve thought with my dick rather than with my brain. I wouldn’t get in half as much strife if I actually used the head that was on my shoulders.

Knocking back the last drop of Brandy, I leave the glass on the table and head back upstairs.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

EMILY

Idrag my suitcase and holdall out of the boot of the car to the front door. I can move my car later, the driveway at the front is big enough to leave it there and still get another car alongside it. And anyway, who’s going to tell me to move it? Reaching in and taking out the single key from my bag that Troy gave me earlier, I slide it into the lock and push open the front door. Is it weird not having a key to your own father’s house? I hadn’t thought about it before now. I’d rather not think about it though if I’m really honest with myself.

Stepping over the threshold I do a quick scan of my surroundings. It’s like I’ve never left. Apart from my dad not being locked away in his office, everything is the same. Apart from Rose that is. I was half expecting her to appear from around the corner with a bright smile for me, but unfortunately, it’s not to be. With slow measured steps I hitch my case over the doorstep and head through the reception hall before pushing the front door closed. Step by step I climb the winding staircase until I make my way to the top, walking along the landing until I come to the third room and turn to face the door. Gripping the handle tightly, I turn it and push the door open. It’s still the same. My computer sits in the corner on my desk and my dressing table sits in the bay window with a freestanding mirror placed on top. I leave my case and bag at the door and slowly walk inside. So many memories attack me as I wander through. The same flowery bedspread lies on my well-made bed. I can't remember leaving it this tidy, maybe Rose tidied it after I left.

The box on my dressing table has my feet moving towards it and I drop myself down onto the stool that sits in front of it with a shaky sigh. With a slight tremble in my fingers, I open the lid, but the little ballerina that used to pirouette in front of the mirror isn’t moving. There are the odd pairs of earrings but not much more, at least it’s not until I open the drawer on the front. There lying across the velvet is a full solitaire diamond pendant on a platinum chain. I lift it out carefully and place it over my hand. It sparkles in the light of the bay. It’s absolutely beautiful. I place it back down on the table again and close the drawer, turning the box around until I find the winder. I twist it until it won’t go any further then open the lid again. The high-pitched sounds of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ring out as the ballerina pirouettes again. My chin trembles with unspoken emotion and tears well in my eyes. “I miss you, Mum.” This is one of the last things she bought me. I was so intent on leaving and in such a hurry that I forgot to take it with me. I’d forgotten how much I missed this. I leave it to play while I pick up the necklace again and my tears roll down my face.

“Why don’t you let me put it on for you?”

My heart stutters and my hand flies to my chest as Troy’s voice cuts through the silence. I’m so stuck in my own head, I didn’t hear him come back let alone enter the bedroom. I gaze at him through the mirror. “You scared me. I didn’t realise you were here.” I can’t help but admire him. He’s always looked good in a suit; it’s what turned my head in the first place. That and his good looks of course. His green eyes shine as he stares back at me. His perfect straight nose and strong jaw was my undoing, and still is by the looks of it.

He crouches down at my side, leaning his forearms on his knees. “I’ve just got here.”

“I didn’t hear the door,” I quickly swipe at my eyes as he takes the necklace from me. “Where did it come from?” I ask timidly as I turn to look at him.

His eyes meet mine as a soft smile teases his lips. “I bought it for you. Think of it as a homecoming present.” With the necklace still hanging from his fingers, he moves to stand behind me. “Let me put it on?” It’s a question that doesn’t need answering. His hands come around my front, opening the necklace out and laying it flat against my breastbone. The pendant rests just below my collarbone and as he swiftly fastens the clasp, my fingers go to the delicate diamond, gently grazing the pendant while my heart beats a little faster beneath it. Leaning over slightly, he gazes at me through the mirror again. “It suits you.” Needing to get out of this… moment, or whatever it is we are having, I close the lid of my jewellery box, effectively halting the sweet nursery rhyme music and look away, blowing out the breath that had caught in my throat.

“I better take my stuff into the master bedroom,” I announce standing from the stool and turning towards him, “unless your little arrangement is going to let me sleep in here?”

“Not a chance. If we sleep in different beds, then there’s no point in all this.” His cloudy gaze dances over my face and back to the diamond he’s placed on me.

“What point? What is your point, Troy?” I ask frustrated, he’s gotten me here but still I know nothing else. I sigh loudly as I sweep past him. “You can’t buy me Troy, if that’s what’s going on here?”I declare stopping just short of the doorway.

He forces a laugh, snorting through his amusement. “I’m not that stupid Em, please give me some credit. But I do think you need to ask yourself a question…why did you agree to this in the first place?”

Very briefly, I scan my surroundings again, my childhood memories. “Because I get what’s rightfully mine. Nothing else.”

His mouth pulls into a smirk, lifting an eyebrow as he nods. “And I’ll get what has always belonged to me too.” With my narrowed gaze on his amused one, I huff loudly and leave him in my old bedroom, not giving him anymore fuel to stoke the fire.

Once I’m settledin and have changed out of my work clothes into a pair of leggings and a baggy sweater, I shoot a text off to Kellie.

Well,I’m back home. It’s strange seeing my clothes hanging in the wardrobe, even more seeing them hanging next to Troy’s.

I sigh,clicking send before I make my way down the stairs. I wander down the hall towards the kitchen. It doesn’t take long to get a feel for the house again. It’s weird though, I feel like a stranger in my own home. Admittedly, I had been gone ten years and didn’t make any effort to come back here even when Dad and I started to have contact again, but probably because there are too many memories here.

Putting my phone down, I fill the kettle and switch it on, then turn my back against the counter, looking around the large kitchen while I wait for it to boil. It’s been modernised a little since my dad was here. It used to be more of a country house kitchen with a rustic theme, an aga sat on one wall delivering heat all day. Now though, it’s more modern. I wonder what my mum would think of it. She loved her kitchen. I used to find her sitting at the large dinner table while she cooked, or reading a book, or flicking through the pages of a magazine, turning the corners of the pages when she found recipes she wanted to try.She loved to cook. After mum died, we’d have starved if it hadn’t been for Rose.

. A tear fills my eye as the kettle clicks off and brings me back out of my memories. After searching for the cups, I find them in one of the cupboards overhead. There’re so many more cupboards now than there was when I lived here, I have no idea where anything is. I spoon some coffee into my cup from the canister and make my drink. I take it with me as I leave the kitchen and go down the hallway. I take the stairs again and my feet carry me to the other side of the house. I stand outside the room and twist the handle pushing the door open. The first thing I see are my paintings from when I was younger still lining the walls. I smile, a real smile this time. One of those that makes you shine a little brighter from the inside. Stepping over the threshold I place my cup down on the unit in the corner.

There’s still an easel set up in the corner and the paints are on a stand, it’s like I never left, apart from the paints are new. My heart thunders against my chest as I whirl around to go in search of Troy to ask him how, but to my shock he’s standing there staring at me. I stop dead in my tracks, my hands falling to my hips while I try to catch my breath. “You seriously need to stop sneaking up on me.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He grins.

Turning back to the sight before me, I ask in a low voice, “Did you do this?”

His hands come to rest on my shoulders, “I did,” A whisper brushes the shell of my ear. His breath warm as it blows gently down my neck, “Does this room bring back any memories? It does for me.”Goosebumps prickle my skin. I give myself a minute before I turn to him, schooling my features again and bracing myself.

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